Method and system for providing local information over a network

ABSTRACT

A method and system is provided where a first computer (e.g., a central server) collects information to be presented to one or more users. The information is organized into a plurality of first web-sites where each of these web-sites is addressable by a unique Universal Resource Locator (URL). A physical location is associated with each of the first web-sites. One of the first web-sites may be provided to a user as a user web-site. When the user or other individual seeks to access the user web-site, links to a plurality of the first web-sites are provided based on a relationship between the physical locations associated with the first web-sites and the physical location associated with the user web-site.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12/222,270filed 6 Aug. 2008, which is a division of application Ser. No.09/443,038 filed on 18 Nov. 1999, U.S. Pat. No. 7,418,402 B2, thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to a method and system for providinginformation to a user. More particularly, the present invention pertainsto a method and system for providing information to a user based on alocation of the user (e.g., the current location of the user).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The number of users on the Internet and World Wide Web has growntremendously in the last five years. As is known in the art, userstypically access information that is residing on various computersystems coupled in the Internet system. For example, a user via apersonal computer or network server is able to access information, suchas a “web-page” from computers that are located throughout the world.

One problem associated with the Internet and World Wide Web is that thesearch for information tends to be geographically spread out. In otherwords, though the user may be searching for information on a localmarketplace or event, he/she may be given information about marketplacesor events throughout a country or even the world. Accordingly, much ofthe information that is presented is probably not helpful to the user.

On the other hand, individuals and companies that seek to provideinformation, products, services, etc. to potential users/customers areoften providing information globally to individuals who have no need forthe information being provided. In view of the above, there is a needfor a method and system that provides information to a user that is moretailored to the user's physical location.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method and systemis provided where a first computer (e.g., a central server) collectsinformation to be presented to one or more users. The information isorganized into a plurality of first web-sites where each of theseweb-sites is addressable by a unique Universal Resource Locator (URL). Aphysical location is associated with each of the first web-sites. One ofthe first web-sites may be provided to a user as a user web-site. Whenthe user or other individual seeks to access the user web-site, links toa plurality of the first web-sites are provided based on a relationshipbetween the physical locations associated with the first web-sites andthe physical location associated with the user web-site.

For example, the physical location of a telephone connection (e.g., theaddress to which a telephone number is assigned) may be the physicallocation of the first and user web-sites described above. Accordingly,the user web-site may be assigned a location related to the telephonenumber from which the user's computer system accesses the first computersystem (e.g., over the Internet). The information provided to the usercan thus be limited based on location so that only merchant information,events, news for a local area (e.g., linked to web-sites within a givendistance from the location associated with the user's web-site) arepresented to the user. According to a further embodiment of the presentinvention, monetary transactions can be based on when information isactually provided to the user. Thus, the merchant or other individualwho seeks to provide information to the user is only charged when thatinformation is provided to a user who is local to the merchant or to auser who is actually seeking more information from that merchant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an Internet system employing an embodimentof the present invention.

FIGS. 2 a and b are depictions of a graphical user interface of publicpages for a user at his or her personal computer constructed accordingto an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an embodiment of a method according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a depiction of a merchant web-site presenting information fora user at his or her personal computer according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a simplified representation of a network system(e.g., the Internet system) as is known in the art is shown that may useembodiments of the present invention. In this example a user's computersystem (e.g., personal computer 11) is coupled to the Internet 30 in aknown manner (e.g., through a telephone connection to an InternetService Provider (ISP)). A plurality of computer systems are coupled tothe Internet 30 including servers 12, 13, 23, and 25. As is known in theart, the user (via computer 11) may be able to communicate with any ofthe other computers coupled to the Internet 30.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, each user'slocation may be identified based upon a telephone number. For example,the user's location can be identified based on the telephone number ofthe user's home or office. Also, the user's location can be identifiedbased on the telephone number that is being used to access the Internet(e.g., when using a dial-in ISP such as America On-Line or the like).

Determining the appropriate telephone number to assign to a particularuser can be performed during a registration operation. For example, theuser may call a central server 40 using the telephone that is assignedthe desired telephone number to identify the user. If the telephonenumber called is a toll-free number (e.g., a “1-800” number) in theUnited States, ANI (Automatic Number Identification) can provide thecaller's phone number. Other caller-identification systems are availableto identify the caller's telephone number. During such a telephone call,the user may be provided with a password. In this embodiment, aUniversal Resource Locator (URL) for the user is reserved. For example,the user may be provided with a unique URL in the following form, forexample:

http://wvvw.abrainc.com/##########

where ########## represents the ten-digit telephone number of the user(including area code). This URL provides an address to a user web-site,and a location is associated with this web-site (e.g., the longitudinaland latitudinal coordinates of the billing address for the user'sten-digit telephone number). One skilled in the art based on the aboveteaching will appreciate that other URL's may be used to uniquelyidentify the user and other indicia may be used to identify a locationto be associated with a user's web-site.

Once a user has been assigned an appropriate URL, the user can thenaccess that URL in a known manner. When the user first accesses thisURL, the user is able to “claim” the URL as his or her own by providingthe password provided during the initial telephone call. In thisembodiment, accesses to the unique URL are directed to central server 40(although it may be directed to other computer systems as desired asknown in the art). Once a user logs in at the central server, the usermay access information from the server identified to the user's URL.This “content” can be divided into two categories: Public pages andPrivate pages. Public pages include content that can be accessed byanyone accessing the user's unique URL. Private pages include contentthat is accessible only by the assigned user (which is assured duringthe login procedure) or by other individuals who have special accessrights.

Once the user at computer 11 has registered with the central server 40,the location of the user is stored at the central server 40. Thislocation can be determined based on the user's telephone number. In thisexample, data relating the location of a telephone number may be kept ina database local to the central server 40 (e.g., database 41) or may beaccessible over the Internet (e.g., database 27). Once that data isknown, a portion of information that is stored at the central server 40may be provided to the user based on whether the individual or businessthat is providing the information is located within a “local area” 10relative to the user. In this embodiment, web-sites for merchants,service providers, etc. have the same URL format as that identifying theuser's web-site. The web-site content may be stored at the centralserver or at other locations. As with the user web-site these merchantweb-sites each have a location associated with them (e.g., based on theten-digit telephone number of the URL). Accordingly, when links to thesepages are provided to the user, the central server 40 is able to selectlinks (e.g., hypertext links according to the HTML 3.0 language) tothose web-sites that are located within the local area 10 relative tothe user.

A local area may be defined as a circle having a predetermined radius(e.g., twenty miles) centered on the physical location associated withthe user's web-site (in this case the location of computer 11 accessingthe Internet via a telephone connection). Thus, information provided by“local” individuals or businesses (i.e., where the location associatedwith their web-sites is local to computer 11 such as businesses locatedat servers 12 and 13) may be provided to the user while informationprovided by “non-local” individuals or businesses (i.e., where thelocation associated with their web-sites is not local to computer 11such as businesses located at servers 23 and 25) is not. As indicatedabove, the web-sites discussed may be stored at central server 40, atindividual servers 12, 13, 23, and 25, or elsewhere. The “local” natureof these web-sites depends on a physical location (e.g., a geographiccoordinate location) associated with these web-sites.

Though a merchant may typically desire that its web-site be madeavailable to as many user's web-sites as possible, it may be morepractical for a merchant or the like to include its own local area. Forexample, a merchant whose business depends largely on delivery ofmerchandise may desire a local area that is limited to the delivery areaof the merchant. Accordingly, links to the merchant web-site would onlybe provided to user's web-sites having an associated location within themerchant's local area.

In this example, the physical location of the user's web-site is basedon a telephone number. In another embodiment, the physical locationassociated with a user's web-site may be determined based on the cell inwhich the user currently resides (e.g., in a cellular telephone system).Alternatively, a global positioning system (GPS) may be used to locate auser's web-site as is known in the art. In these examples, the physicallocation for the user's web-site needs to be provided to the centralserver 40, which can be handled by the cellular telephone system orentered directly by the user. Thus, a user may also enter any locationas the user's physical location even if he or she is actually locatedelsewhere.

The central server system 40 stores data relating merchant information,news, events, etc. based on a location of such information. Once giventhe user's physical location, the central server system 40 can determinewhether the location of such information is within a given radius of theuser's location. Rather than defining the local area of the user basedon a set radius from the user, the local area may be defined bypolitical boundaries (e.g., municipalities or zip-code areas).Furthermore, the radius of the local area can be controlled based onpopulation density. This would be achieved by first setting a thresholdfor a number of entities in a given local area (e.g., the number oftelephone number connections). The radius of the local area can beincreased until the number of telephone number connections in the localarea meets the threshold. Other shapes for the local area may be used.For example, a square shape can be used as a latitudinal andlongitudinal range centered around the user location. The content of theinformation that is accessible by the user may be driven by the userand/or the central server 40 as set forth in more detail below.

An example of a user's web-page is shown in FIG. 2 a. The web-pageincludes a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be used to organizeinformation accessible by the user. A user accesses this informationwhen logging into the central server 40 (FIG. 1) as described above. Inthis example the GUI 100 provides a general map 101 (e.g., showing thelocation of the user at marker 103). Controls may be provided to allowthe user to modify the scale and location of the map 101. Several tabareas 105 are provided which organize information for the user. Forexample, tab area 106 provides selectable information for news and/orevents taking place locally to the user; and tab area 107 providesselectable information for merchants who are within the local area 10(FIG. 1) of the user. Other tab areas may be provided to provide otherinformation that is local to the user. Selection of tab area 107 revealsa selection area 108 (see FIG. 2 b) of local merchant categories.

At least as a baseline of information, the links provided in the user'sweb-site are limited to web-sites for news, events and merchants thathave an associated location that is within the local area 10 of theuser's web-site. For example, “clicking” (i.e., inputting a selectionvia a mouse pointer device) on “Gas stations” in selection area 108 mayreveal a list of gasoline stations with address and phone numbers in thelocal area of the user. In addition, the location of these gasolinestations may be displayed with markers and other identificationinformation on map 101.

When the list of gasoline stations is presented, the user may select oneof the gasoline stations on the list (i.e., a list of links to theweb-sites for these gasoline stations). The user is presented with theinformation specific to the merchant, for example, by accessing anappropriate web-site via the link. An example of a web-site for amerchant is shown in FIG. 4. The merchant web-site may include somestandard information such as address and operation hours along withpromotional materials such as advertisements and coupons. The “local”merchant web-site may also include a hypertext link to a URL for a“global” merchant web-site or the like.

The user can add information to the user web-site. For example, the usermay set up additional tab areas or subcategories within the tab areas.Again, the links that are collected for such additional tab areas orsubcategories may be at a baseline level where the events, news,merchants, etc. for these web-sites located within the local area of theuser. The user can also expand or contract the local area as desired orselect other areas to be represented in the user's web-site. Since theuser's web-site can be accessed by others accessing the URL describedabove, a second user located remotely to the user may be able to buymerchandise on behalf of or for the user based on the merchant linksthat are listed as local to the user. To that end, when a personaccesses the central server 40, he or she may enter any of a variety ofidentification information which can be used to find the URL associatedwith that user. Examples include a user's telephone number (as discussedabove), a user's home addresses, driver's license number, pilot'sregistration, etc.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, merchants andothers seeking to advertise may direct that advertising to potentialcustomers/users in a local area. A flowchart depicting a method forimplementing such a transaction is shown in FIG. 3. In block 201, amerchant, for example, inputs (or has input) secondary information aboutthe merchant such as the hours of operation, advertisements, promotionaloffers (e.g., coupons), etc. This information is then stored for eachmerchant at the central server 40 as a first web-site for the merchant.Such information can be stored as a web-site as shown in FIG. 4. Theuser, via the GUI shown in FIGS. 2 a-b, may request more informationfrom a merchant than is listed in his/her web-site. In decision block203 it is determined (e.g., at the central server 40) whether such arequest for information is made (e.g., selecting a link to themerchant's web-site). If such a request is made, then control passes toblock 205 where the requested information is presented to the user inhis/her web-site. In block 207, the merchant is then billed for thepresentation of the secondary information to the user. In accordancewith this embodiment of the present invention, the merchant ispresenting marketing information to users whose local area includes themerchant. Thus, the merchant is better able to present marketinginformation to users that are nearby rather than by broadcastingadvertising that goes to individuals who do not desire or cannot accessthe services or products provided by the merchant.

Alternatively, the merchant may seek to advertise to users that arelocal to it. In block 204, the merchant generates secondary informationto be provided to users where the merchant is in the user's local area(e.g., in the form of a web-site stored at central server 40). In block206, links to this secondary information (e.g., the web-site) areprovided to all users who have the merchant represented in their Publicpage. In block 208, the merchant is billed for providing thisinformation to local users.

When information on a merchant in a user's web-site changes, the usercan be notified by flashing or modifying the tab used for selecting themerchant or the merchant name, itself. This gives the user theopportunity to access the information in his/her Public/Private pages.Further, when a merchant is part of a user's Public/Private page and themerchant has updated information for such users (e.g., a promotion, anadvertisement, new operating hours, etc.), the merchant can make thatinformation available at its web-site and the corresponding tab at theuser's web-site can be made to indicate that new information from themerchant is available.

Although embodiments are specifically illustrated and described herein,it will be appreciated that modifications and variations of the presentinvention are covered by the above teachings and within the purview ofthe appended claims without departing from the spirit and intended scopeof the invention. For example, though the Internet network is describedabove, the present invention has applications to other types ofnetworks. Also, though the connection between a personal computer andthe Internet is described as a telephone connection, other connectionsare known in the art such as cable/modem and digital subscriber lineconnections.

1. A method of performing a transaction comprising: receiving a requestfrom a user for information about merchants who are located within alocal area; identifying merchants responsive to the request from adatabase that includes information about the physical location of themerchants; and providing information about the identified merchants tothe user.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area is a circulararea having a predetermined radius from a predetermined physicallocation.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area is a circulararea having a user defined radius from a user defined physical location.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area is a zip-code areadefined by the user.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area isdefined by identifying boundaries on a map.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the information provided to the user includes a map includingthe local area having the physical location of the merchants shown onthe map with a marker.
 7. A method of performing a transactioncomprising: receiving a request from a user for information aboutmerchants who are located within a local area; identifying merchantsresponsive to the request from a database that includes informationabout the physical location of the merchants; and providing to the usera map including the local area and having the physical location of themerchants identified on the map.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein thelocal area is a circular area having a predetermined radius from apredetermined physical location.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein thelocal area is a circular area having a user defined radius from a userdefined physical location.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the localarea is a zip-code area defined by the user.
 11. The method of claim 7,wherein the physical location of the merchants is identified on the mapwith a marker.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the marker is userselectable to display additional information about a selected merchant.13. A method of advertising over a computer network comprising:identifying potentials customers in a local area; transmittinginformation about a merchant to the potential customers; receivingrequests for additional information about the merchant from thepotential customers; transmitting additional information about themerchant to the potential customers who requested additionalinformation.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the local area is acircular area having a predetermined radius from a predeterminedphysical location.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predeterminedphysical location is the location of the merchant.
 16. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the predetermined local area is defined by themerchant.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the predetermined localarea is defined by identifying boundaries on a map.
 18. The method ofclaim 13, further comprising the step of billing the merchant for eachpotential customer who requests additional information.
 19. A method ofproviding information through a website comprising: displaying firstcontent on one or more public pages that are generally accessible byanyone accessing the website; and displaying second content on one ormore private pages that are accessible only to individuals who havespecial access rights.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the firstcontent includes information about merchants within a local area. 21.The method of claim 20, further comprising: identifying potentialscustomers based upon merchants identified in the first content;transmitting information about a merchant to the potential customers;receiving requests for additional information about the merchant fromthe potential customers; transmitting additional information about themerchant to the potential customers who requested additionalinformation.